'Coins were the Instagram of the first century BCE'

2,000-year-old coin with earliest menorah image returned to Israel after US seizure

Joint operation also sees return of 2,500-year-old silver coin, one of two known examples in the world, as officials stress importance of international cooperation to combat looting

Two rare coins dating to over 2,000 years ago have been returned to Israel, following a joint law-enforcement operation between Israel and the United States, the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a statement on Tuesday.

One of the coins bears the earliest known depiction of the seven-branched Jewish menorah, along with a showbread table used in the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. It was minted in bronze in the first half of the first century CE, when the Second Temple was still standing.

The other coin, a 2,500-year-old silver coin most likely minted in the ancient city of Ashkelon, is only the second of its kind known worldwide.

According to the IAA, the coins were unearthed by looters and smuggled abroad. They were set to be sold at auctions in the US but were seized in a joint operation between the IAA Theft Prevention Unit, the Antiquities Trafficking Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and US Homeland Security.

The artifacts were handed over during a ceremony in New York on Monday.

Both coins are very representative of the period and location they came from, according to Robert Kool, head of the IAA Coin Department.

“What makes this coin so interesting is the iconography,” Kool told The Times of Israel over the phone, referring to the menorah.

The value of bronze coins was significantly lower than that of gold or silver coins, and they are much more common to find in archaeological excavations and on the market.

Yet, the Hasmonean coin saved in the US represents something of an exception, both because only a few dozen like it have been identified (a relatively small number for a bronze coin) and because of the highly symbolic value of its engravings.

Mattathias Antigonus was the last of the Maccabees, the family of high priests who, over a century earlier, defeated the Greek Seleucids in the story celebrated with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

He was supported by the Parthians, the group that ruled Persia and other territories in the East at the time, who in 40 BCE conquered the land of Israel from the Romans and installed Mattathias as king of Jerusalem.

“Herod was seen as an usurper, and Mattathias was not only the king, but also the high priest,” Kool noted. “These coins were sending a message: ‘I am the king and the high priest, and I’m safeguarding the most precious symbols and the Temple for the Jewish people.”

At the time, the Temple was still standing, but, according to Yuval Baruch, a researcher of menorahs and head of the IAA Archaeology Administration, only the priests could approach the candelabra.

“During the time of Mattathias Antigonus, access to the menorah inside the Temple in Jerusalem was limited,” he explained in an IAA statement in 2024. “We assume that no one (except the priests themselves) could stand next to the menorah with drafting tools and draw it, but could only look at it from afar. All people could do was imprint the appearance of the menorah in their memory and later — sketch or design it — from memory.”

The coin also bears inscriptions in both paleo-Hebrew script and Greek, the former reading “Mattathias the High Priest,” and the latter “King Antigonus.”

“He was the first to use this double title in two languages,” Kool said. “On the one hand, he calls himself the high priest; on the other, he wanted to portray himself as a Hellenistic king, which is not surprising because they lived in a Hellenistic environment, and in Hellenistic culture, it was quite natural to have the high priest and the kingship combined.”

The expert explained that, in ancient times, minting coins served not only a practical purpose but also a political statement.

“Coins were the Instagram of the first century BCE,” he said. “How would a ruler disseminate his ideology otherwise, in a time when there were no media?”

In 37 BCE, Mattathias Antigonus was defeated by Herod, who turned the region into a Roman vassal state.

Coins bearing Jewish symbols were minted again about a century later, during the First Jewish Revolt.

The other coin, returned to Israel in New York, depicts the Greek goddess Athena with her helmet on the obverse and an owl spreading its wings on the reverse, images similar to those on the Athenian silver tetradrachm. It also featured the letters alef and nun in Phoenician script, the first and last letters of Ashkelon, suggesting its origin.

“During the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, Ashkelon was a Phoenician city,” Kool said.

“The Phoenicians were great traders active across the Mediterranean,” he added. “The coin imitates the Athenian tetradrachm, which was basically the most important standard currency of its time in the eastern Mediterranean.”

Silver tetradrachms weighed about 17 grams. Similar coins were minted in several locations at the time for commercial use.

However, the only other coin of the exact same type known in the world is currently part of the Israel Museum collection.

Also in this case, the coin was not found in an archaeological excavation, but rather acquired by Haim Gitler, chief archaeology curator and curator of numismatics at the Israel Museum, in an auction in 1998.

Since they are detached from their archaeological context, artifacts from the antiquity market cannot provide the same information as those retrieved during a scientific expedition.

According to Gitler, the letters alef and nun next to the owl are likely to refer to Ashkelon, since adding the first and last letter of a city name to indicate a coin’s origins was a known phenomenon — though not all experts agree.

“We can see two coins were struck using the same dies, as in both, it looks like Athena is crying,” said Gitler, referring to an imperfection in the image that resembles a tear, showing that the same tool was used to manufacture them. “The coin retrieved from the IAA was minted before the other one, because it’s in better condition, which means the dies were less deteriorated.”

Gitler also said that the coins might not have been minted in the city itself, but rather at a central Phoenician mint producing coins for multiple Phoenician cities.

According to the auction house he bought the coin from, the artifact he acquired was part of a hoard found in the Egyptian city of Ismailiya in 1983, made of several silver tetradrachms from the period.

“We believe that the Phoenician tetradrachm we are discussing imitated Athenian coins dated between 420 and 405 BCE,” Gitler said.

Gitler explained that it is not surprising that no similar coin has ever been found in an archaeological excavation, as, in general, there are many more known coins from the antiquity market than from excavations.

Kool reiterated the importance of working against antiquity looting and illegal trade.

“It really destroys culture, whether in Israel or in any other country in the world,” he said.

Both Israeli and US officials stressed the importance of international cooperation to eradicate the threat.

“The illegal trade in looted antiquities is a widespread international phenomenon, which requires cooperation between countries and enforcement agencies around the world,” IAA Theft Prevention Unit deputy director Eitan Klein said in a statement.

“This is a partnership that should serve as a model for the return of looted cultural heritage around the world,” noted Col. Matthew Bogdanos, chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.